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Two found guilty in JFK fuel tanks bomb plot

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-03 04:51

NEW YORK - Two men accused of plotting to blow up jet fuel tanks at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport were found guilty on Monday.

A federal jury reached the verdict in a Brooklyn federal court, local media reported.

Prosecutors had accused Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir of scheming to cause a massive explosion by igniting the tanks. They said Defreitas, a former cargo handler, hatched the plot to avenge the perceived US oppression of Muslims.

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Defreitas was found guilty on all six counts against him: conspiring to attack a public transportation system, to destroy a building or other real property by fire or explosive, to attack aircraft and aircraft materials, to destroy or damage international airport facilities and to attack a mass transportation facility, and surveillance of a mass transportation facility.

Kadir, a former member of Guyana's parliament, was found guilty on five of the counts, but not guilty on the count of surveillance of mass transportation facility.

The men face the possibility of life in prison. Their sentencing is scheduled for Dec 15.

The men were arrested in 2007 before they could move beyond the planning stage of the alleged plot, prosecutors said.